Will GreenwaldSony XBR-55X900FSony's X900F 4K TV series is among the brightest we've tested, with excellent color and tons of features thanks to Android TV, though some minor issues coupled with a hefty price tag keep it from rising to the top.

Sony's X900F 4K TV series is among the brightest we've tested, with excellent color and tons of features thanks to Android TV, though some minor issues coupled with a hefty price tag keep it from rising to the top.

Sony has proven that it can make very appealing, if expensive, TVs. The company's A1E OLED rivals LG's excellent OLED models, and its high-end LCD TVs can get impressively bright and vivid. Add the robust functionality of Android TV for connected features and you get a pretty strong package. The X900F is Sony's latest flagship LCD series, offering premium design and performance without quite reaching the heights that OLED can. It's one of the brightest LCDs we've seen yet, with excellent color performance. At $2,199.99 for the 65-inch XBR-65X900F we tested, it's pretty expensive for a 4K LCD TV, though, and mediocre black levels and a somewhat sluggish interface hold it back from a higher rating.

Editors' Note: This review is based on tests performed on the XBR-65X900F, the 65-inch model in the series. Besides the screen-size difference, the 55-inch $1,499.99 XBR-55X900F is identical in features, and we expect similar performance.

Design

The X900F continues Sony's minimalist, angular aesthetic. The screen is surrounded by thin, flat brushed black metallic bezels, with sharp angled corners. The bottom bezel is distinguished with a slim chrome-colored band that serves as an accent, and is low enough that it doesn't catch distracting glare from overhead lights. An indicator LED is hidden in the middle of the bottom bezel, just below the small Sony logo that serves as the only other visual flair on the front of the TV. The screen stands on two rectangular gray metallic legs that extend from just behind the TV at outward angles, forming a stable support.

The power cable attaches to a rear-facing port on the right side of the back of the screen. All other connections sit in two rectangular recesses on the left. One holds an HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, and four 3.5mm connectors for headphones/audio out, composite/component video in, and infrared remote control in and out with the included IR blaster. The other recess holds three more HDMI ports, a USB 3.0 port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, an RS-232C port, and an antenna/cable connection.

The included remote is a typical blocky, button-filled Sony wand. It's a black rectangle with a circular direction pad and menu buttons in the middle, flanked by a number pad above and playback controls and volume and channel rockers below. A Google Assistant button near the top of the remote activates the built-in microphone for using the voice assistant on the TV, and two dedicated service buttons between the number and navigation pads provide easy access to Google Play Movies & TV and Netflix. It feels a bit clunky compared with the simpler remotes of LG, Samsung, and Roku-based TVs, but the slew of buttons grant easy access to many features and functions without going through a lot of menus.

Android TV

Sony's smart TVs use the Android TV platform for apps, services, streaming media, and interface. Android TV is very powerful, as we've seen with the Nvidia Shield TV. While it doesn't have nearly the full selection of Android apps available to smartphones and tablets, the Google Play Store offers hundreds of useful apps and services across a variety of subjects. Most of the big streaming names are available, including Amazon Video, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, and YouTube for video, and Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Pandora, and SiriusXM for music, to start.

Android TV on the X900F also includes full use of the Google Assistant voice assistant, accessible through the dedicated button on the remote (hands-free use isn't supported, unless you get a separate hands-free Google Assistant device like a Google Home Mini). You can use Google Assistant to search for media, jump to different apps, check weather reports, get general trivia information, and even control compatible smart home devices. It's a very full-featured voice assistant, comparable with Amazon's Alexa on Amazon Fire TV devices and TVs.

The X900F supports Google Cast out of the box. It functions just as if you had a Google Chromecast Ultra plugged into the back of the TV, showing up as a castable device to any smartphone, tablet, or computer on the same network. I streamed my Chromebook's screen to the TV with just a few clicks.

For all the software flexibility, the X900F's processing hardware doesn't seem quite up to the task. Navigating the Android TV interface sometimes felt jerky in testing, and some apps occasionally crashed. Add the fact that the remote, while wirelessly connected to the TV for the microphone, still requires infrared line of sight for the buttons to work, and interacting with the X900F simply feels a little sluggish.

Performance

The X900F supports high dynamic range (HDR) signals in both HDR10 and hybrid log gamma (HLG). As of the most recent firmware update, the X900F also supports Dolby Vision content streamed through online services.

We test TVs with a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and SpectraCal's CalMAN software on a Razer Blade Pro laptop. In Cinema Pro mode, with its X-tended Dynamic Range and Local Dimming features set to High, the X900F shows an impressive peak brightness of 666.94cd/m2 on a full field of white. Cutting that down to a 10-percent window, the luminance doubles to 1,227.07cd/m2, brighter than HDR10 mastering levels. Thanks to the TV's dimmable array backlight, it shows a modest black level of 0.06cd/m2 even with a 100-percent white square on the screen, for an excellent 11,116:1 contrast ratio. This isn't as high as the TCL 6-series' contrast ratio, which despite not being able to get as bright, can reach a much lower 0.01cd/m2 black level.

These are still very good contrast numbers, with the X900F standing out as one of the brightest TVs we've tested yet (under certain conditions). If you want better performance while retaining a slim, attractive style, you'll need to look to an OLED TV like Sony's A1E series or LG's C7P series.

The incredibly bright panel has a potential flaw, even when producing decent black levels. Depending on the Local Dimming and X-tended Dynamic Range settings, the X900F can produce a ton of light bloom, creating a haze over very dark parts of the screen if very bright parts are next to it. Cranking those two settings down can reduce light bloom when it comes up, though it will also reduce the overall effective contrast.

The above chart shows Rec.709 broadcast standard colors as boxes and measured colors as dots. Out of the box, in Cinema Pro mode with the Expert 1 white balance setting, the X900F shows generally excellent color. It can reach appreciably far past broadcast standards while showing very little drift for primary colors, cyans, or yellows. Magentas run warmer than we'd prefer. A powerful 10-point color calibration tool is available in the TV's menus if you want to tweak the colors, but we recommend seeking out experts for that granular a level of calibration, to avoid throwing all of the colors out of whack.

Bright, colorful content like the BBC's Planet Earth II looks excellent on the X900F. The various hues of plants, water, and animals appear vivid without looking garish or oversaturated. Fine details like tree bark and fur can be seen clearly in both bright sunlight and shade. Shadows don't appear washed out, but they don't seem quite as dark as they could be when against very bright objects, due to light bloom. It's still a very attractive, eye-catching picture with strong color performance.

The Great Gatsby also looks good, though the flaws with black levels and light bloom become very apparent with Baz Lurhmann's high-contrast, vivid style. The white suits and lights of the party scenes look very bright, and fine textures can be seen on black suits and dark hair. However, those dark elements aren't as inky black as they could be, especially when very bright elements appear so close to them. The light bloom especially comes through on the anamorphic film's letterboxing, with cloudy flares popping up often on the bottom of the screen.

1080p video games and other upscaled, high-action content comes through very well on the X900F. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch looks bright and crisp upconverted from HD to the screen's 4K resolution, and the occasionally 60 frames-per-second gameplay appears smooth and fluid. Menu text also looks sharp, thanks to the TV's solid upconversion. This doesn't mean the X900F is necessarily a great TV for video games, though, due to a factor that doesn't have to do with picture quality: input lag.

Input Lag and Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of time between when a TV receives a signal and the screen updates. Here the X900F falters, with a very high 104.5ms input lag in Cinema Pro mode. The Game picture mode slashes that to less than half, but even that 41.9ms lag is twice as high as we like to see to consider a TV appropriate for gaming.

You can still play most video games just fine on this, and most other, TVs, but the input lag can become disruptive for intense games that depend on inputting commands with accurate timing. Our list of the best TVs for gaming has a selection of various TVs with input lags around 20ms or lower.

The 65-inch X900F is also a bit of a power hog, which isn't surprising considering how bright it can get. Under normal viewing conditions in Cinema Pro mode, the TV consumes 208 watts. Setting Power Saving to Low drops that to 163 watts, slightly dimming the screen but keeping it very watchable. Changing Power Saving to High drops that to a remarkably low 63 watts, but uncomfortably dims the picture.

Conclusions

Sony's X900F 4K TV series is bright, colorful, and stylish. It can put out well over 1,000cd/m2 when pushed, and it comes packed with features thanks to its Android TV interface. Its black levels are mediocre, however, and light bloom can hurt its effective contrast. These factors are compounded when considering the premium price tag of $2,200 for the 65-inch version we tested.

If you want better performance in a stylish package, you should consider spending a bit more for a Sony or LG OLED TV. Sony's OLEDs have all of the style and features of the company's LCD TVs, but offer far better contrast thanks to their panel technology, and support Dolby Vision HDR. LG's OLED TVs don't have the benefit of Android TV, but their webOS interface is still rich in features, and their OLED panels offer the same superlative contrast, excellent color performance, and better input lag.

If you don't mind compromising a bit on features, connectivity, and aesthetics, the TCL 6-series is our favorite budget TV. The 65-inch 65R617 costs less than half as much as the 65-inch X900F, and it shows better black levels and less light bloom. It has one fewer HDMI port, and Roku TV doesn't have quite as many smart features as Android TV, though.

Sony XBR-55X900F

Bottom Line: Sony's X900F 4K TV series is among the brightest we've tested, with excellent color and tons of features thanks to Android TV, though some minor issues coupled with a hefty price tag keep it from rising to the top.

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About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert... See Full Bio

Sony XBR-55X900F

Sony XBR-55X900F

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